The relationship between snus use and smoking cognitions

The group of snus initiators (Group 1) reported a significantly higher level of expectancies of smoking to promote negative affect reduction at follow-up, while all other cognitions remained stable. The group of smokers (Group 4) reported on average positive smoking cognitions, and significant changes were observed during the period. However, among regular snus users (Group 2) and non-users (Group 3), there were no significant changes in any of the smoking cognitions. The uptake of snus might influence expectancies of cigarettes to reduce negative affect in a direction facilitating smoking initiation, but the use of snus does not appear to influence the majority of cognitions known to promote smoking initiation among adolescents.